To put the figures into perspective, 371,000 3DS units were sold in its launch week, dropping to 210,000 in week two. A drop is to be expected after the initial flurry of sales, but the Vita sales decline is much sharper than that of the 3DS.

The solution will likely involve following in Nintendo's footsteps. When it saw a big sales drop it cut the price of the 3DS from $249.99 to $169.99, only a few months after the initial release. Sony has priced the Vita at $250 for its February release in the US, which means it will need to drop the price considerably if it is to drum up sales, particularly when its rival is significantly cheaper.

Nintendo also released some major game titles like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, which helped the 3DS recover some sales. The 3DS sold 484,000 units in the past week compared to the Vita's 72,000, which raises significant questions about how well Sony's latest handheld console effort will do.